Witness: Anwar said he would need to quit if true figure revealed

Anwar Ibrahim said he would have to resign as finance minister if the actual figure in relation to Bank Negara's foreign exchange (forex) losses is revealed, claimed a witness.

Testifying before the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the forex losses, former Bank Negara assistant governor Abdul Khalid Murad said Anwar had confided this to him.

Reading his witness statement, Murad said in 1994, then Bank Negara governor Jaafar Hussein had instructed him to explain the forex losses to Anwar, who was then finance minister.

At the time, Murad, who revealed earlier this year that the losses amounted to US$10 billion, was Bank Negara's advisor.

"Anwar asked me to join him on his flight to Hawaii to provide an explanation on the forex losses, as instructed by Jaffar," he told the commission.

After explaining the matter to Anwar, Murad said the latter replied that he understood the issue and would discuss it Jaafar.

"Apart from that, after I explained, Anwar commented that should the true figure of the forex losses be revealed to the public, he would have to resign as finance minister,” he added.

This morning, the RCI's first witness, former Bank Negara staff Abdul Aziz Abdul Manaf, told the commission that the central bank lost RM31.516 billion from 1991 to 1994.

[More to follow]

-Mkini